An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D.,
The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 493A portrait of Mr. Merriam
appears between pages 492 and 493
DR. CYRUS K. MERRIAM, Spokane, Washington, came to the far West from the
Pine Tree State. His more than forty years of life have been replete with study
and experience, and he is to-day eminently fitted for the honorable position he
occupies among talented members of his profession.
Dr. Merriam was born in Maine, in 1848, next to the youngest in the family
of eight children of Lewis and Mary (Foss) Merriam, natives of, Massachusetts
and Maine respectively. His father, a farmer and miller by occupation, moved to
Maine in 1832, previous to his marriage. Both parents are dead. The father
passed away in 1889, aged eighty-four years, and the mother in 1880. Their
ancestors were English.
Dr. Merriam first entered Colby University at Waterville, Maine, where he
graduated in 1875. During the winter of 1876 and 1877 he began the study of
medicine in time office of Dr. Cyrus Chamberlain, under whose practical tuition
he made rapid advancement, and immediately after attended Bellevue Medical
College, also taking the second course of lectures at the medical department of
the University of the City of New York. After receiving his degree of M.D., he
returned to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he practiced until 1880. In that year
he was appointed acting assistant surgeon, United States Army, and was detailed
to frontier duty, spending several years at White Bluffs, Camp Chelan, Fort
Spokane, and Fort Colville. He was stationed at Fort Spokane from 1882 to 1887,
and there resigned his position in the latter year.
Locating in this city in 1888, he commenced private practice, meeting with
the most gratifying success. He was appointed secretary of Spokane County
Medical Society in 1888, and after two yearsí service in that capacity was made
president of the State Medical Society, holding that office until 1891. He had
helped to organize the County Medical Society in 1888, and the following year
also assisted in the organization of the State Medical Society, of which he was
president during 1890. The Doctor affiliates with the Republican party.
During the great fire that swept Spokane in 1889 Dr. Merriam was burned out.
He has invested largely in real estate here and has made considerable
improvements on the same. He is pleasantly located in the Granite Block, and has
the patronage of a large and influential class of residents. His long years of
training have made him a thoroughly practical physician and surgeon, and his
services are constantly in demand. He belongs pre-eminently to that class of
physicians who are in their profession because they love it. The practice of
medicine and the study and investigation of the ever-varying forms of disease
afford him more pleasure than he could derive in any other way. It is to men
like him that humanity is indebted for the progress thus far made in the divine
art of healing.
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in October 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.